New York City Marathon 2004-The Winners

i wanted to watch it, but forgot it was on today...

Way to go, Paula. What an amazing run and finish!

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Radcliffe Outruns the Field and the Memories of Athens
By LIZ ROBBINS

Stride for stride, Paula Radcliffe and Susan Chepkemei turned into the final 400 yards in Central Park, two figures cut against the noontime brilliance of a late fall day. For a fleeting moment, there might have been a third form.

The harder Radcliffe grimaced, fighting through her fatigue, her indigestion and her memory, the shadow of doubt and despair that had trailed her for three months faded. Radcliffe attacked those final five miles, with Chepkemei knowing her opponent was not the same dazed runner who had dropped out of the Olympic marathon at the 22-mile mark.

As the world-record holder who had won every marathon she had entered before the Summer Games, Radcliffe had come to reclaim herself in her New York City Marathon debut - on two weeks' notice. Bobbing like a peacock, her dark sunglasses shading the emotion of the past three months, Radcliffe broke the stride-for-stride duel only 200 yards from the tape, storming past Chepkemei to capture a dramatic victory in 2 hours 23 minutes 10 seconds.

Radcliffe of England finished four seconds in front of Chepkemei of Kenya. Lyubov Denisova of Russia finished third in 2:25:18, overcoming an exhausted Margaret Okayo of Kenya, the defending champion. The American Deena Kastor, the Olympic bronze medalist, dropped out from fatigue and knee pain at the 16-mile mark.

"I was pretty determined," Radcliffe said. "I know Susan is a really strong athlete, but I've raced her for a long time and I was confident. I knew I had a lot left, so I was just holding myself together."

She did more than that. Radcliffe had found the marathon redemption to make herself whole again and exorcise the memories of Athens. Yesterday, when she passed that haunted 22-mile mark, which yesterday happened to be Marcus Garvey Park in Manhattan, she thought about waving to mark the accomplishment. But there was no need.

"I felt totally myself, nothing like that horrible feeling that I had, nothing," she said.

Her stomach was upset, but not nearly as badly as it was at the Olympics. She had eaten spaghetti Bolognese, which she sent back twice to be reheated, the night before in a Manhattan restaurant. She suffered from indigestion in the middle of the night, and it started again at the 23rd mile.

"It didn't matter if I was sick at the finish," she said, "I was going to keep running."

A little indigestion was nothing compared with the dyspeptic stomach that affected her during the Olympics, a result, she said from taking anti-inflammatories for a leg injury. Once she had determined the cause of her dehydration and depletion, Radcliffe could train again.

She and her husband, Gary Lough, escaped the paparazzi in England by training for five intensive weeks in Flagstaff, Ariz. On Oct. 23, Radcliffe committed to coming to New York.

"I wouldn't have entered if I didn't think I could win,'' she said.

Until the Olympics, the 30-year-old Radcliffe had experienced little failure in her marathon career. She made her debut at that distance in 2002 with a victory in London. Yesterday, she wore the same bib number, 111, to commemorate her early form.

"I don't think it was about sending out messages," Radcliffe said. "It was about running well for me and enjoying it and just being back."

In the athletes' hotel on Thursday, Chepkemei, who finished second in 2001, hugged Radcliffe and told her, "I'm happy to see you back." Leading up to the marathon, Chepkemei, 29, had won four road races of 10 kilometers or less. She had lost before to Radcliffe and knew that her legs were tired.

"Of course, it was in my mind, I could win the race," Chepkemei said later. "Paula, she was too strong."

Radcliffe collected $140,000 in prize money - more than the total purse of the men's winner, Hendrik Ramaala, for reaching time milestones during the race.

From the start, Radcliffe showed her determination. In the first mile, she ran to the right of the pack, separating herself, and never drifted from the lead.

From the start, Kastor knew she was not fresh enough to win. She said she had been slowed by dehydration and muscle cramping in her legs over the past two weeks after logging too many training miles leading up the Olympics.

"Just a bad day at the office," Kastor said, swallowing tears. "I could have struggled through the finish line in three hours and just treated this like a celebration, but I didn't want to do harm to myself."

Instead, she slowed down at the 16-mile mark and was taken for medical assistance. She was driven by a police escort to the finish line and was not surprised to hear that Radcliffe had won.

"Paula was out here today to prove herself as one of the best marathoners in the world," Kastor said.

Unlike her training partner, Meb Keflezighi, Kastor was unable to recover from the emotional high and physical peak she had in Athens.

"We both gave it a shot and it worked out in completely opposite directions," she said. "I don't regret it."

Kastor was unable to recover in time for her third marathon in seven months, and she said after the race that she would concentrate on shorter distances next year.

"When it's bad, it's really ugly, and when it's good we come out with shiny medals and performances," Kastor said. "In a span of 77 days I had my best and my worst race."

So, too, did Radcliffe.

Her calm smile yesterday was in contrast to her tears after the Olympic marathon. Five days later, on an impulse, she entered the 10,000 meters at the Olympics, only to drop out of that race, too.

Yesterday, there was no doubt in her mind she would finish. Or win.

"It's very difficult to make up for it," she said of the Olympics. "Like I said before, it happened. It's over now and this is moving on from there. Winning here in New York is very important to me."

Radcliffe has had success in New York before. In 1996, she won the first of her two titles in the Fifth Avenue Mile. She won the New York Mini 10K in 2001.

Yesterday, the BBC broadcast the race live. While there were pockets of Union Jacks on the course, there were simply not the same expectations as there was in Athens.

But unlike in any of her other marathons, Radcliffe had competition from wire to wire. After Kastor dropped out at Mile 16, Radcliffe ran in a lead pack with Chepkemei, Lornah Kiplagat and Tegla Loroupe, a two-time winner in New York. Okayo, the defending champion, had drifted to the second pack.

At the 18-mile mark on First Avenue, Kiplagat, Radcliffe and Chepkemei ran three across. Three miles later, Kiplagat, who finished second last year, started to fade and wound up finishing seventh.

This was the closest women's race, eclipsing the dramatic finish of 1990, when Wanda Panfil of Poland outlasted Kim Jones of the United States.

"It's important to come back and run well," Radcliffe said. "It's just important to be back feeling happy and feeling like myself again."

The last ten miles of the women's race were riveting. The quiet determination of each of them not to let the other break away, the assessing and reassessing of every sigh, every grunt, every movement however slight that might indicate a weakening, made the drama build and build. They entered the park running as if they were tethered, footfall for footfall, step for step. I know the park well and I know where the finish line is and I thought several times that the two of them would have to sprint for the line together but suddenly, with only yards to go there was a burst from Paula Radcliffe. Her head doing that odd shake, shake, shake that has become her trademark as she gained first two steps then four and Susan Chepkemei, her face as tranquil as the statuary they were passing, held on and held on for thirty yards or so and then, let her go.

It was as if someone had loosed Paula from a tieline, never looking back, never slowing her stride, she floated across the tape.

I lay back on my pillowed bed and teared up.

I do love humans and what they do.


Joe Nation

Let's not forget the wheelchair races:


NYT Published: November 8, 2004, Lena Williams:


Saul Mendoza said he did not want to make the same mistake in the New York City Marathon push-rim wheelchair race that he did last year, going out fast and hard at the start. After the first five miles in 2003, Mendoza was too tired to keep up with Krige Schabort, who went on to win. Mendoza finished third.

Yesterday, Mendoza decided to hang with a five-man pack for most of the 26.2 miles, making his move on the incline in the final 20 meters in Central Park. By then, it was a three-man race with Schabort and Kelly Smith, but neither could beat Mendoza's sprint down the stretch.

Mendoza, a Mexican who lives in Texas, won the men's race in 1 hour 33 minutes 16 seconds. Schabort, a South African who lives in Georgia, pulled ahead of Smith in the last 10 meters to finish second in 1:33:19. Smith, a Canadian, was third in 1:33:24.

"Everybody didn't want to play their cards too early, so everybody was just waiting, and it became a tactical race," said Mendoza, 37, who also won the race in 2001. "It was a strong field and it was very difficult to break away. So the last 10 meters, when I saw the finish line, I realized I had it."

It has been a long, hard season for the 12 racers in the men's elite field, and it showed. The pace was well off the course record, 1:32:19, set last year by Schabort. The lead changed hands eight times. Five racers held the lead at some point, but no one appeared willing or able to break away from the pack. So they stayed together, drafting off one another.

Mendoza attacked the hills. Schabort went hard in the turns. Ernst Van Dyk, who set the world record, 1:18:27, at the Boston Marathon in April, pushed ahead on the flats. Smith and Aaron Gordian Minz of Mexico cruised on the downhills. In the end, it was as much a battle of attrition as tactical strategy.

Minz had a flat tire coming off the Queensboro Bridge and ended up fifth in 1:41:25. Van Dyk was nearing the 20-mile mark over the Willis Avenue Bridge when he popped a tire. He finished fourth in 1:40:41.

That left Mendoza, Schabort and Kelly. Mendoza won a gold medal in the 1,500-meter race at the Paralympics in Athens in September and is considered one of the best climbers and sprinters in wheelchair racing. Schabort was the two-time defending champion in New York. Kelly, who won a silver medal in the marathon in Athens, appeared to have a comfortable lead entering Central Park with about three miles to go.

"It got kind of ridiculous to be honest," Kelly said. "A couple of times, the pace was down to 10 kilometers an hour. That is ridiculously slow when we could do 20 miles per hour."

Schabort said he was waiting for Mendoza or Kelly to attack because he was too tired to do so.

"When I crossed the line, I was dizzy," he said. "I was out."

Edith Hunkeler of Switzerland, competing in her first New York City Marathon, won the women's push-rim competition in 1:53:27, smashing the course record of 1:59.30 set last year by Cheri Blauwet. Hunkeler, 32, said she was helped by her countrywoman Sandra Graf, 35, who finished 10 seconds behind. Graf grabbed the lead along an uphill stretch nearing the five-mile mark, and Hunkeler said she had all but conceded the race to her.

"I never expected to catch her," Hunkeler said. "I hate uphills, but it was to my advantage today that I could catch her and win."

Bob Laufer, coordinator of the wheelchair race for the New York Road Runners, was thrilled with the down-to-the-wire competition.

"It was what I had been looking for in both categories for many years, which was close races right up to the end," he said.

The winner's of the men's and women's push-rim division each received $3,500. Hunkeler received an additional $500 for breaking the course record. The prize for second place was $2,500, with $1,500 for third, $1,000 for fourth and $750 for fifth.

Todd Philpott, 47, of Australia won the men's handcycle division in 1:17:12. Angelique Simons, 37, of the Netherlands won the women's race in 1:50:02. This year's handcycle division was classified as a competitive ace for the first time; it was previously an exhibition. Although no prize money was awarded, the top three winners received silver Tiffany trophies.